Apparatus for producing gas



Dec. 29, 1964 Filed March 16, 1961 J. L. HAMILTON ETAL APPARATUS FORPRODUCING GAS 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS. JAMEs L. H AM\LT'ON2I1J FEAN KJ. NOLAN ATTORNEYS.

Dec. 29, 1964 .1. HAMILTON ETAL 3,163,509

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING GAS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 16, 1961 IAIIII 1 4 1141! J'AMEt-b L. HAmaLToNand L N. FRANK fiIQVQNTORS ATTORNEYS.

Dec. 29, 1964 J. 1.. HAMILTON ETAL 3,153,509

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING GAS Filed March 16, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 IAMEsL. HAVHLTON and FRANK J. NOLAN Fa BY m ATTORNEYS.

N INVENTORSI United States Patent 3,163,509 APPARATUS FQR PRGDUGNG GASJames L. Hamilton, Box 3728, Charlotte, N.C., and Frank Joseph Nolan,312 Filmore St., Hollywood, Fla; said Nolan assignor of seventeenpercent to Wilson H.

Hamilton, St. Augustine, Fla.

Filed Mar. 15, 1961, Ser. No. 96,196 8 Claims. (Cl. 55-234) Thisinvention relates to an improved apparatus for producing a highlycombustible, eflicient gas from liquid hydrocarbons, such as rubbersolvents, hexane and various other types of solvents, for use as fuelfor jet type gas burners such as are usexl for heating and refrigeratingbuildings and appliances contained therein.

Due to the fact that many buildings do not have access to a pipedpublic-utility source of natural or manufactured gas and due to theinconvenience in having so-called bottled gas (propane) delivered tosuch buildings, notwithstanding the expense of such gas to the consumer,various prior attempts have been made to develop an economical systemfor producing combustible gas from relatively inexpensive hydrocarbonliquids, which system could be embodied in an inexpensive,self-contained and portable apparatus capable of furnishing a supply ofeflicient gas of optimum specific gravity or fuel-to-air mixture at anytime regardless of ambient temperature conditions.

Although such prior systems have met with some degree of success, theyhave been unsatisfactory for use with jet type gas burners and, to ourknowledge, their in efiiciency has been such that they have never beenused commercially or, at least, their use has been discontinued. To ourknowledge, prior art gas producing equipment has utilized asubstantially closed container containing a liquid absorbing medium inthe form of pulverized charcoal, steel wool, or textile fibers,partially or entirely immersed in or spaced above a supply ofhydrocarbon liquid, which liquid was at or very near ambient temperatureor may have been heated, and wherein compressed air was caused to flowat relatively high pressure and velocity through or past the liquidand/or the absorbing medium.

The dominant draw-back of such prior art apparatuses has been theirgeneral inefliciency, particularly at the time they were first put intouse following several hours of dormancy and for an interval up to ormore than an hour after they were put into use, because during suchinterval, the gas escaping from the jets of a gas burner connected tothe prior art gas producing apparatus would be of excessively highspecific gravity so the amount of liquid hydrocarbon suspended in theair exceeded that which would burn eiliciently and an undesirable,low-heat, yellow flame would thus emanate from each of the jets of theburner.

As is known, a yellow flame indicates that only a fractional part of thehydrocarbon molecules in the gas are being consumed by the flame. Thus,the remainder of the hydnocarbon molecules would escape into the air andform carbon monoxide and create a hazardous problem which might haveresulted in asphyxiation of the occupants of the room and which, atbest, would produce an undesirable carbonaceous coating on cookingutensils placed over such flame. Further, the burner would requireconstant attention during such intervals, since it was necessary toreduce the flow of gas at the jets from time to time to avoidoverheating the contents of the utensils as the quality of the gas wouldgradually improve.

The main reason why the gas produced by such prior devices wasnecessarily of low quality during an initial interval of utilization ofsuch devices, following a substantial period of dormancy, was because ofthe fact that, in order for such devices to pnoduce an efiicient gasfollowing such initial intervals of utilization, it was necessary tomanufacture such devices so as to produce gas of the desired specificgravity while in continuous use for a longer period of time. However,there were no provisions made in such prior devices for filtering out orremoving from the air any excess liquid fuel (above that which must besuspended in the air to produce eflicient combustion) which necessarilybecame suspended in the moving air when such prior devices wereinitially utilized following a substantial period of dormancy. Thissocalled excess liquid fuel became suspended in the moving air at suchtimes of initial utilization because the capillary action of the liquidabsorbing medium would cause the said medium to become overladen withliquid fuel during such periods of dormancy sothe air moving past orthrough such medium would continue to pick up and suspend therein excessamounts of hydrocarbon molecules for some considerable period of timeuntil the rate of flow of the air, the pressure of the air, the recoveryrate of the absorbing medium, and the volatility of the liquid allbecame proportionally compatible or arrived at equilibrium such as tocause just the right amount of hydrocarbon molecules to become suspendedin the air as it moved past the liquid and the absorbing medium to produce efiicient gas at the jets of the burner and such as to produce ablue flame.

The term recovery rate as used herein cannotes the rate at which anabsorbing medium, partially immersed in or immediately adjacent to asupply of liquid hydrocarbon, will absorb an amount of hydrocarbonliquid sulficient to replace only that amount which can be removedtherefrom by moving air currents therethrough at a given pressure andtemperature; i.e., the rate at which the absorbing medium absorbs theliquid by capillary action and the rate at which the moving air absorbsthe liquid from the absorbing medium are in equilibrium.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a novel apparatusfor producing an efiicient gas from liquid hydrocarbons having a boilingpoint above ambient atmospheric temperature which overcomes the defectsin the prior art devices discussed above and wherein air, at very lowpressure and at moderate temperature, is introduced into an enclosureand moved past an absorbing means, preferably in the form of suspendedbleached cotton rovings, partially immersed in such liquid, the liquidalso being maintained at a moderate'temperature. The air then flows pasta dry loose, bleached cotton absorbing means, preferably in the form ofdry suspended, low-twist bleached cotton rovings which absorb any liquidfrom any of the air which may have suspended therein an amount of liquidexceeding the necessary optimum amount to provide a gas having aspecific gravity within prescribed limits, such that the gas is highlycombustible and'efficient.

It is another object of this invention to provide an improved apparatusfor producing gas from liquid hydrocarbons of the character described,in which air within an enclosure is maintained at a very low pressureabove atmospheric pressure and impinges against a wet absorbing means,preferably in the form of suspended, bleached cotton rovings whose lowerends are immersed in liquid hydrocarbon.

Although the wet absorbing members may become overladen with hydrocarbonliquid while the apparatus is dormant, when the apparatus is initiallyutilized, the low pressure air then flows past and through dry absorbingmembers consisting of suspended, lightly twisted or crimped bleachedcotton strands, slivers or rovings whose lower ends are spaced above thehydrocarbon liquid. The dry cotton rovings are of such texture anddensity that any hydrocarbon molecules whose suspension in the air causethe gas to exceed an optimum specific gravity are absorbed by the drycotton rovings and the gas then passes from the enclosure to the jets ofthe gas burners. Thus, the specific gravity of the gas is held withinsuch limits that all the gas is efiiciently consumed by the flame at thegas jets even during the initial interval of utilization of theapparatus.

For some reason which is not apparent to us, when the dry bleachedcotton rovings are in proper proportion to the wet or partially immersedabsorbing means, which proportion must finally be determinedempirically, the dry bleached cotton rovings only remove from the airany droplets or molecules of hydrocarbon which are in excess of theamount of such droplets or molecules of hydrocarbon which must remainsuspended in the air in order to produce a clear, hot, blue flame at thejets of the gas burners. This condition continues even though the extentto which the air may have become overladen with hydrocarbon graduallydiminishes for an indeterminate interval following the instant at whichthe apparatus is utilized after having remained dormant for some time.This is also the case after said indeterminate interval has passed. Inother words, when the moving air at said low pressure flows past andthrough the wet absorbing means and picks up sufiicient hydrocarbonmolecules only to cause the gas to be of the desired optimum specificgravity, the dry bleached cotton rovings through and past which the gassubsequently flows in its course to the gas burner or burners absorbvery little if any of the hydrocarbon then suspended in the air.

This applicationis a continuation-in-part of our copending applicationSerial Number 706,679, filed December 30, 1957, now abandoned, andentitled Method and Apparatus for Producing Gas.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objectswill appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings, in which- FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of apreferred embodiment of the improved apparatus of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a view looking at the left-hand side of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a view looking at the right-hand side of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged transverse sectional view through an improvedblower for effecting constant pressure within the housing of theapparatus, showing the impeller in position for producing a relativelylow pressure in the housing of the apparatus;

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to FIGURE 4 showing the impeller in positionfor producing relatively high pressure and showing a novel valveconstruction in association therewith;

FIGURE 6 is an axial sectional view through the blower takensubstantially along line 6-6 in FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged transverse vertical sectional view through theapparatus taken substantially along line 77 in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 8 is a schematic isometric view of the improved apparatusomitting the wicking and a side and top wall thereof for the purpose ofindicating the circuitous path followed by air currents passing throughthe apparatus;

FIGURE 9 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view through theapparatus, with parts broken away, taken substantially along line 9-9 inFIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 10 is an inverted sectional plan view through the apparatus takensubstantially along line 1010 in FIGURE 9, but being on a reduced scale.

As heretofore stated, various apparatuses for producing gas from liquidhydrocarbons have been provided heretofore, but have not been entirelysatisfactory due to the fact that, after the prior art apparatus hadbeen shut down or inoperative for an extended period of time, such asall night, the igniting of a burner the following morning would resultin a long yellow flame, which was indicative of an excess of hydrocarbonmolecules relative to the volume of air as compared to that which couldbe efficiently consumed by the flame; i.e., the specific gravity of thegas would be too high. This inadequate flame would generally continuefor an indeterminate period of time; i.e., from five minutes to an hour,during which the specific gravity of the gas would gradually reduce andan efiicient combustible gas would then be directed to the burner sothat a satisfactory flame would be produced. Under such conditions, theapparatus had to be adjusted at varying intervals so as to provide aconstant gas quality. The present apparatus overcomes the above andother defects and such apparatus will now be described in detail.

The Enclosure Referring more specifically to the drawings, the numeral29 broadly designates an enclosure or tank, preferably in the form of asubstantially rectangular sheet metal housing or tank. Tank 20 may besquare or in the form of an elongate tube closed at opposite ends or ofother form without departing from the spirit of the invention. In itspreferred embodiment, tank 29 includes suitably interconnected verticalwalls 21-24 and top and bottom walls 25, 26. For purposes oforientation, walls 21 and 22 shall be termed hereinafter as front andrear Walls, respectively, and side walls 23 and 24 will be termed asleft-hand and right-hand side walls, respectively.

Spaced closely above bottom wall 26 is an irregular or corrugated falsebottom 30 which is preferably made from sheet metal and which forms thebottom of an air diffusion chamber 34 and which also supports a supplyof liquid hydrocarbon, the preferred level of which is indicated at L.The false bottom 30 and main bottom 26 of enclosure 20 define an airheating chamber 31 therebetween, the rear wall 22 being provided with afiltered or screened opening 32 for ingress of air, from the surroundingatmosphere, into the heating chamber 31. The heating chamber has alongitudinal partition 27 therein engaging the lower edges of theV-shaped portions of the false bottom 30, for supporting the same andcausing diagonal flow of air currents through chamber 31.

It will be noted that the upper and lower surfaces of false bottom 30are of substantially corresponding configuration to provide transverselyextending ridges and valleys in alternation throughout the length ofenclosure 20. sinuous or serpentine heating element 33 is suitablysecured to the lower surface of false bottom 30 and is so shaped as toform a plurality of substantially parallel runs which extendtransversely of enclosure 20 and which runs are preferably disposedimmediately beneath the transverse ridges formed on irregular falsebottom 30.

Suitable conductors in a cable or electrical conduit 36 extend outwardlyfrom one end' of heating element 33 through rear wall 22 and areconnected to a suitable thermostatic switch 37, which switch ispreferably of the manually adjustable type, and from the other side ofwhich conductors 40 extend to a suitable source of current, not shown.The thermostatic switch 37 may be of the wellknown household't-ype or ofany other desired construction and, therefore, a detailed descriptionthereof is deemed unnecessary. A suitable heat-conducting element orbulb 38 is connected to the thermostatic switch and submerged in theliquid L whereby the thermostatic switch 37 controls the temperature ofthe liquid and, consequently, the air in heating chamber 31.

It is thus seen thatair flowing from the atmosphere through the heatingchamber 31 may be heated, and the liquid L may also be heated, byheating element 33. The end, side and bottom walls defining chamber 31are preferably provided with an insulation covering 41 so as to minimizeloss of heat from heating chamber 31.

It will be observed in FIGURES 9 and 10 that a Diffusion chamber 34 isdivided into a plurality or series of compartments a-h by means of asubstantially centrally located longitudinally extending partition 45and longitudinally spaced transverse partitions 46-51. The partitions45-51 extend from the top wall downwardly to the level of the upperedges of the ridges of false bottom 34 whereby the valleys in the uppersurface of false bottom 3t) permit the liquid L to flow into the lowerportion of all such compartments. It will be noted that transversepartitions 46-51 are spaced above the valleys formed in the false bottom34) so as to permit the liquid hydrocarbon to pass between the falsebottom and the lower edges of the transverse partitions.

Referring to FIGURE 8, it will be observed that partitions -51 areprovided with respective passageways or openings -61. Opening 55 isdisposed at the rearmost portion of the longitudinally extendingpartition 45, openings 56, 53, 59, 61 are disposed at the outermostportions of respective transverse partitions 4'6, 48, 4?, 51, andopenings 57, are disposed at the proximal or innermost portions of thecenter transverse partitions 47, 50. This provides a series ofpassageways in the partitions which are disposed in horizontallystaggered relationship to effect a somewhat serpentine flow to the airpassing through diffusion chamber 34. The openings 56, 57, 58, 55, 59,60, 61 are also of progressively reduced area in that order. Thecompartments a-h are interconnected by the relatively small openings56-58, 55 and 59-61 so as to obstruct or retard the flow of low pressureair through the compartments and thereby produce uniform pressuresubstantially throughout each compartment. This arrangement ofpartitions in enclosure 20 is very important to the successful operationof this apparatus, because of the extremely low pressure which must beused in order to produce gas according to our method, and

wherein it is necessary that the air is dispersed throughout theabsorbing members to be presently described.

The Absorbing Means All the compartments a-g of diffusion chamber 34have primary or wet suspended absorbing members 65 therein, secondary ordry absorbing members 65a being provided in the final stage compartmenth. The absorbing members65, 65a may be suspended from adjacent the topwall 25 by any suitable means. In this instance, the upper portions ofthe side walls 23, 24 and opposite sides of the upper portion of thelongitudinally extending partition 4-5 have angle bars 66 thereon onwhich spaced rods 67 are supported and over which members 65 are looped.All the absorbing members, with the exception of those in the finalstage compartment h, have their lower ends immersed in the liquidhydrocarbon so the partially immersed absorbing members 65 raise theliquid over the supporting rods or members 67 by capillary attraction.

The absorbing members 65a in the final stage compartment h arerelatively short as compared to the absorbing members 65 so their lowerends terminate in spaced relation above the level L of the liquidhydrocarbon. The absorbing members should be highly absorbent and shouldbe capable of high capillary action. Loosely twisted, bleached cottonstrands, slivers or rovings have been found to be the only materialwhich may be used in compartment h for absorbing from the gas anymolecules of hydrocarbon which are in excess of those molecules whichmust remain suspended in the gas in order that the gas will burn with anefficient blue flame. Also, it is highly desirable that absorbingmembers 65 are in the form of loosely twisted, bleach cotton strands, inorder to minimize the size of the mass of such members 65 for producinga given volume of gas.

Although some diffusion of the air and hydrocarbon molecules occursthroughout diffusion chamber 34, it occurs to the greatest extent incompartments a-g. Accordingly, the compartments a-g may be termed asdiffusion compartments and compartment h may be termed as a conditioningcompartment.

As heretofore stated, in order to produce gas from liquid hydrocarbons,such as commercial hexane, and wherein the specific gravity of the gasis maintained Within predetermined limits such as to result in efiicientcomplete combustion and thus produce a clear blue flame, We have foundthat the air delivered into the apparatus and emanating from the jets ofthe burner or burners must be under very low pressure. Experiments haveshown that the pressure in the enclosure 20 must be maintained constantat from 1 /2 to 5 inches water gauge pressure; i.e., .0542 to .1805pound per square inch or approximately 4 to 3 ounces per square inchgauge pressure. Such low pressures are usually measured in inches ofwater by use of a manometer.

Thus, the material which absorbs liquid hydrocarbon and from whichliquid hydrocarbon is to be absorbed by the air moving thereby and/ortherethrough must be sutficiently loose, open or porous to permit air tocirculate therethrough without being obstructed thereby to anysusbtantial extent and the absorbing medium must be of high capillarity,since the higher the capillarity of the material, the higher is therecovery rate of the material. This is extremely important in the finalstage compartment h since the nature of the absorbing medium must besuch as to permit a given amount of the hydrocarbon molecules to remainsuspended in the air passing theretbrough and thereby while anyhydrocarbon molecules exceeding said given amount must be absorbed bythe absorbing medium located within the final stage compartment h.

We have conducted experiments with many different types of absorbentmaterials in order to develop a material which would produce the desiredresult. Such materials included synthetic filaments and fibers, such asnylon, rayon filaments and fibers; balsa wood, roved wool fibers, wovencotton lamp wicking, puverized charcoal, fullers earth, lightlycompressed or packed balls of bleached cotton, unbleached strands ofcotton roving, bleached strands of low-twist cotton roving, etc. As aresult of these experiments, only loose bleached cotton, preferably inthe form of strands, such as rovings and slivers, was found to have allthe characteristics necessary in order to produce the desired result inthe final stage or conditioning compartment it. Other absorbentmaterials may be used in the diffusion compartments a-g, however, aswill be later explained.

It was found that woven cotton lamp wicking, synthetic filaments andfibers, rayon filaments and fibers, balsa wood, compressed balls ofbleached cotton, strands of wool roving, unbleached strands of cottonroving, pulverized charcoal and fullers earth were all of insuificientabsorbency to remove hydrocarbon molecules from the low pressure gaswhen it was of too rich a mixture such as to reduce the gas to therelatively low specific gravity necessary for efficient combustibility.

In order to minimize the size of the gas producing apparatus and therebyfacilitate economical construction thereof, it is preferable thatbleached cotton fibers, in the form of loosely twisted rovings, also beused in the diffusion compartments a-g. Experiments have shown thatwoven cotton lamp wicking, synthetic filaments and fibers, rayonfilaments and fibers, balsa wood, compressed balls of bleached cotton,and wool rovings could be used as the primary or wet absorbing means 65only by increasing the size of enclosure 20 to such extent that it wouldbe too large and expensive to manufacture for pracriod of time, when anequal mass of any one of the other types of absorbing means lastdescribed is substituted for the loosely twisted cotton strands orrovings, each of the other types of absorbing means then hasinsufficient capillarity to maintain the low pressure air moving throughthe diffusion compartments at sufliciently high specific gravity inorder to produce an eflicient blue flame. Similar unsatisfactory resultswere obtained when pulverized charcoal and fullers earth were eachsubstituted for the loose bleached cotton strands in diffusioncompartments a-g.

It was found that, by moving air at relatively high pressure throughpulverized charcoal or fullers earth, the air would pick up suflicienthydrocarbon to form a gas of the desired specific gravity. However, inthe latter instance, the gas jets would have to be too large forpractical use and the gas would escape from the jets at sucht velocitythat the flame would be projected a substantial distance frome the jets,notwithstanding the fact that the gas would then become admixed with thesurrounding atmosphere to such extent that the flame would still be arelatively long, low-heat yellow flame, thus defeating the purpose ofthe present invention. Further, the loose bleached cotton strands 65a incompartment 11 were then of little value, since due to the necessaryhigh pressure and velocity of the air as it passed through thepulverized charcoal or fullers earth, the dry loose bleached cottonstrands could not absorb any noticeable amount of hydrocarbon moleculesfrom the gas even if the gas contained more of such molecules than itshould in order to burn efliciently.

During these experiments, it was also found that balsa wood was toofragile and would disintegrate when used as the wet absorbing means andcompressed balls of bleached cotton were of insuificient porosity andwould not permit the air to circulate therethrough. Although strands ofwool roving and unbleached cotton roving had a higher capillarity thanthe other absorbent materials with which we experimented, with theexception of the bleached cotton strands, the capillarity thereof andthe consequent recovery rate thereof were still insuflicient for use inthe same size relatively small diffusion compartments a-g as could beused to accommodate the required amount of bleached cotton strands toproduce the desired result. It was found that bleached cotton rovingshad approximately ten times the capillarity and recovery rate ofunbleached cotton rovings.

The absorbent material which produced the most satisfactory results inboth the diffusion compartments a-g and the conditioning compartment 11of the prototype apparatus was in the form of lightly twisted strands offrom .10 to .20 hank bleached cotton roving or sliver, the strands ofwhich had /1. to 1 /2 turns per inch twist imparted thereto during theroving operation. With the low pressure air, it is preferred thatapproximately eight inches of such rovings are exposed above the liquidL in the diffusion compartments a-g and that approximately one inch ofthe latter rovings are immersed in the liquid supply in order that thewet rovings have the correct recovery rate. As heretofore stated,various types of absorbent materials of relatively high capillarity maybe used in compartments ag, but only dry, loose cotton strands, such asloosely twisted bleached cotton rovings or slivers, may be used inconditioning compartment h.

The wet absorbing means 65 in the drawings is shown in the form ofstrands of bleached cotton rovings, as is preferred. The amount of wetrovings 65 in proportion to the amount of dry rovings 65a is notnecessarily as illustrated in the drawings, however, since the ratio ofthe exposed portions of the wet rovings 65 to the dry rovings 6511 mayactually be between 35 to 1 and 45 to 1, depending upon the size of theenclosure 20, the air pressure therewithin, the temperature, and thevolatility of the liquid hydrocarbon.

The final stage or conditioning compartment 11 of diffusion chamber 34preferably has a foraminated shelf 68 therein disposed between the levelof the liquid L and the lower ends of the dry absorbing members 65a tofurther insure that the dry absorbing members 65a do not come in directcontact with the hydrocarbon in the liquid state and will thereforeremain substantially dry. Shelf 68 is shown in the form of a plate orscreen, preferably made from sheet metal and provided with suitableopenings therein. Plate 68 is suitably secured to the proximal surfacesof side wall 24, longitudinally extending partition 45, front wall 21and front transverse partition 51.

The liquid hydrocarbon may be maintained at the desired level L by anysuitable means, such as a liquid level float controlled member 72 whichmay be supported on rear wall 22. The liquid hydrocarbon enters floatcontrolled member 72 through a pipe 73 from a suitable supply tank, notshown, and passes through member 72 and into the lower portion ofdiffusion chamber 34 through a pipe 75. Liquid level controllers arewellknown and a detailed description of member 72 is deemed unnecessary.

The Blower As heretofore stated, the pressure at which the gas ismaintained in the enclosure 20 is highly critical and is so relativelylow that an ordinary blower or pump will not serve the desired function.Also, the pressure producing means should be so constructed so as to beminutely adjustable in order to accommodate variations in themanufacture of the enclosure 20 and the elements contained therein,since different enclosures may vary as to the capacity thereof, theliquid level L may vary in different enclosures and the bleached cottonrovings 65 and 65a may vary as to mass and displacement.

To this end, we have provided a centrifugal blower broadly designated at80, the housing of which comprises a substantially flat end wall member81 and an axially opposed conical wall member 82 which is connected tothe wall member 81 by a flanged annular portion 83 (FIGURES 4, Sand 6).The housing of blower contains an impeller 85 mounted on a reduced outerend of a motor shaft 87 extending from an electric motor 90. Motor 90 ismounted on a motor support 91 to which the relatively flat wall member81 of blower 80 is also suitably secured. Motor support 91 is suitablysecured to the top wall 25 of enclosure 20.

The conical wall 82 of blower 80 has an air intake opening 93 in itscentral portion to which a conduit 94 is connected. It will be observedin FIGURES 1, 2, 9 and 10 that conduit 94 extends downwardly from blower80 and is connected to the front wall 21 of enclosure 20 forcommunication with the heating chamber 31, preferably in diagonallyopposed relation to the air ingress opening 32. Impeller 85 comprises arelatively large disk or wheel 96 mounted on the reduced end of motorshaft 87. A flanged hub 97 is also mounted on the reduced end of shaft87.

Hub 97 and disk 96 are secured in the desired adjusted relationship onthe reduced portion of motor shaft 87 by any suitable means, such as anut 100 (FIGURES 4, 5 and 6). The impeller 85 of blower 80 also includesa plurality of circularly spaced blades or vanes 101, preferably madefrom a relatively thin flexible material such as stainless steel.Opposite ends of each vane 101 are pivotally connected, as at 102, and103, to the disk 96 and hub 97, respectively. It will be noted that thevanes 101 are of greater length than the normal distance between thepivot points 102, 103 when considered radially of the axis of theimpeller 85 (FIGURE 4).

It will be noted in FIGURE 6 that the vanes 101 are each ofsubstantially frusto-triangular form so as to conform substantially tothe configuration of the housing of blower 80. When the vanes 101 occupysubstantially flat position as shown in FIGURE 5, they create greaterpressure than they do when they are curved as shown in FIG- URE 4,although motor 90 drives the impeller 85 at a constant speed. This isdue to the fact that the leading convex surfaces of the vanes 101 inFIGURE 4 do not provide an efficient air-trapping surfaceas impeller 85rotates in a counterclockwise direction in FIGURE 4 and, thus, more eddycurrents are created at the distal portions of vanes 191 so the airleaks past the vanes at the central and outer portions of impeller 85.It is apparent that the contour of the blades 101 is varied by looseningnut 1110 on motor shaft 87, then circularly adjusting hub 97 and plate96 relative to each other, after which the nut 1th) is driven home, thedisk being fastened against the shoulder at the juncture of the reducedportion of shaft 87 by nut 100.

The blower housing 81) is provided with an outlet opening 110 to which aclapper valve housing 111 is communicatively connected. Clapper valvehousing 111 is provided with a balanced intake clapper valve 112 whichis pivoted therein, as at 113, and normally closes outlet opening 110 ofblower 80 under the influence of a balance weight 116 adjustably mountedon the stem of clapper valve 112. Clapper valve housing 112 has anaccess door 114 which is pivoted on housing 111 and held in closedposition by a catch 115. The access door 114 is provided for adjustingthe balancing weight 116 on the stem of clapper valve 112. 1

A'conduit or pipe 121%, connected to the outlet opening 111) of blower$11 by means of clapper valve housing 111, extends to a tubular coupling121 for communication with an air intake opening 122 (FIGURE 8) providedin the front wall 21 of the main housing or enclosure 2Q. Opening 122may be rectangular or circular, as desired. It will be noted that airinlet opening 122 in the front wall 21 of enclosure 211 communicateswith the first or'front compartment a of diffusion chamber 34.

Front wall 21 of housing 21) is also provided with an outlet opening 123which communicates with the conditioning compartment h of diffusionchamber 34; It will be observed in FIGURES 9 and 10 that opening 123communicates with a tubular coupling 124 to which one end of an outletpipe 125 is connected. Outlet pipe 125 serves to connect outlet opening123 to one or more gas-cock operated jet-type burners, not shown, of thewell-known type, used in kitchen ranges, hot water heaters,refrigerators, Bunsen burners, and the like. Although opening 123 isshown to be square, it is apparent that it may be of circular or othershape, as desired. Coupling 124, at the outlet 123 of diffusion chamber34, is provided with a balanced outlet clapper valve 126 pivotallysuspended in tubular coupling 124 and which remains in a normally closedposition by gravity.

Both intake clapper valve 112 and outlet clapper valve 126 are balancedso that the slightest iiow of gas from outlet opening 123 through aburner or burners, not shown, will cause simultaneous opening of saidvalves. On the other hand, closing the gas cock of any such burnerstends to permit the valves to return to closed position. Of course, whenno gas is being used, the valve 126 mayremain closed, the air within thediffusion chamber then remaining static or dormant under light pressure.

It should be noted that, regardless of whether the gas cock to a singleburner or the gas cocks to a large number of burners are open, thepressure of the air within diffusion chamber 34 remains constant. Thisis also true when all gas cocks are closed, since the blades 101 ofblower 80 I will permit any excess volume of air above that required tomaintain a desired pressure in chamber 34 to slip thereby.

Operation .Assuming that the apparatus is installed ready for use,

' at the combustion point.

aminated'shelf 68), and above the ridges on the corrugated false bottom,which level is maintained by the controller 72 throughout the use of theapparatus, so that the lower ends of the primary absorbing members 65are suspended in the liquid hydrocarbon.

As heretofore stated, it has been found that the lower ends of theprimary absorbent members or primary bleached roving strands 65 shouldhave at least one inch thereof immersed in the supply of liquidhydrocarbon, and the portions of these strands above the liquidhydrocarbon preferably should not exceed eight inches, since otherwise,the upper portions of the primary strands of roving 65 might become dryand might absorb some of the liquid picked up by the air from the lowerportions thereof as the air moves thereby or the latter primary strandsof roving might not then be sufliciently wet to transfer the desiredamount of liquid hydrocarbon to the air moving thereby and/ ortherethrough.

When the correct supply of liquid hydrocarbon has been introduced intothe diffusion chamber 34 of enclosure 20, the circuit to heating element33 may be closed to thus heat the heating chamber 31 and the liquidhydrocarbon L to the desired temperature. Depending upon the particulartype of liquid being used, it has been found that best results areobtained, when using hydrocarbon having a volatility in the range ofcommercial hexane, by maintaining the temperature of the liquidhydrocarbon L at a moderate temperature of from 50 F. to F. (at orbelowthe vaporization point) while maintaining the air in the heatingchamber 31 at a corresponding temperature. At higher temperatures, theB.t.u. content of the resultant gas is too high, causing wastage of thegas Of course, heating element 33 need not be energized when ambienttemperature is sufliciently high. Although ambient temperature maysubstantially exceed 80 F., the liquid L will not, as a rule, exceed 80F.

Upon the liquid hydrocarbon contacting the lower ends of the primarystrands of bleached roving as in diffusion compartments a-g of chamber34, capillary attraction causes the exposed portions thereof to becomequite wet or very nearly saturated, depending upon the length of timethe primary rovings 65 will have been partially immersed in the liquidhydrocarbon before theapparatus was utilized. The electric motor isenergiezd to drive impeller 85. in blower 80. In the meantime, theimpeller blades 101 have been so adjusted as to insure an output of from1 /2 to 5 inches water gauge pressure, this pressure being maintainedconstant at all times in which blower 80 is operating.

Clapper valve 112 (FIGURE 5) is also adjusted, by

means of the balance weight 116, to maintain the same in closed positionwhen the pressure on both sides of the same is between one-and-one-halfand five inches water gauge pressure. Thus, upon initially starting themotor 90 of blower 80, clapper valve 126 (FIGURE 9) remains closed andclapper valve 112 (FIGURES) is opened until such time that impeller'fiShas produced equal pres-,

sure on opposite sides of clapper valve 112. -At this point, clappervalve 112 closes and excess air picked up byimpeller blades 101 slipspast the blades, because of the blades 101 having been previouslyadjusted so that the output of the blower 80 cannot exceed the desiredmaximum of one-and-one-half to five inches Water gauge pressure. It hasbeen found most desirable to maintain a constant pressure of threeinches of water (1.733 ounces per square inch), without variation, inenclosure 20.

a As the air is circulated by blower 80, it is apparent that it is firstdrawn into the heating compartment 31 through the filtered opening 32,which filtered opening filters the air to remove small dust panticles.Thus, the air passes through conduit 94, into blower 8t) and-then passesfrom the blower into diffusion chamber 34 of enclosure 20.

While the apparatus is dormant; i.e., while no gas is being used, blower80 merely maintains the air in enclosure 20 under constant low pressure,but the air is then moving very little, if any. Thus, the air does notpick up any hydrocarbon from the primary strands of cotton roving 65. Itis apparent, therefore, that the primary strands 65 absorb considerableamounts of hydrocarbon liquid from the supply and may even becomesaturated during dormancy of the apparatus. It should be noted that,even though each primary strand of bleached cotton roving 65 is shownlooped over a corresponding rod 67, both lower ends of each such strandare immersed in the hydrocarbon liquid on the bottom of diffusionchamber 34.

Now, when the apparatus is initially utilized by opening the cock to asuitable jet or jets of a gas burner, not shown, connected to outletpipe 125 following a substantial interval of dormancy, say four hours ormore, the pressure produced by blower 8!) causes air to move through theapparatus at very low velocity. During such movement of the air, blower80 continues to maintain a pressure of one-and-one-half to five inchesof water throughout eachcornparttment a-h because of the partitions45-51 and the openings 55-61 therethrough. Thus, the slowly moving airpicks up or absorbs substantially uniform amounts of hydrocarbon liquidfrom all the relatively wet rovings 65 in all the diffusion compartmentsag.

However, since the wet rovings 65 will have absorbed considerably morehydrocarbon liquid during said interval of dormancy than they can absorbduring con tinuous movement of the air thereby and may have even becomesaturated, it is apparent that the slowly moving air will pick up andhave suspended therein an excess amount of hydrocarbon molecules abovethat which may burn efficiently in a given volume of air; i.e., thespecific gravity of the gas thus formed will be too high.

As the gas is being consumed, however, the amount of hydrocarbon liquid,in the portions of the wet strands of roving 65 exposed above the liquidsupply, gradually diminishes until the recovery rate or capillarity ofthe Wet strands 65 is in equilibrium with the temperature and pressureof the slowly moving The specific gravity of the gas also graduallyreduces somewhat proportional to the rate at which the amount ofhydrocarbon liquid diminishes in the wet strands of roving 65 so that,when absorption of hydrocarbon liquid from the wet strands 65 is inequilibrium with the recoveryrate of the wet strands 65, the specificgravity of the gas will be within prescribed limits such as to burn withhigh efiiciency.

From the foregoing description, it is apparent that the specificgravityof the gas formed in compartments a-g must be reduced before itreaches the burner or burners during that indeterminate interval inwhich the amount of liquid in the exposed portions of wet strands ofroving 65 exceeds that which is necessary to produce gas of the correctspecific gravity. Therefore, the gas flows from compartment g intoconditioning compartment h where it passes through and pastthe drystrands of bleached cotton roving 65a disposed in the path of flow ofsaid gas to the burner.

Due to the low pressure and velocity of the air passing throughconditioning compartment h, the temperature of the air, the porosity ofdry strands 65a, the mass of the dry strands 65a and, apparently, thecapillary characteristic of dry strands of bleached cotton roving 65aand the volatility of the hydrocarbon, the dry strands 65a absorb orfilter out from the gas only so much of the hydrocarbon moleculesv asexceeds those which must remain suspended in a given volume of the airin order to change the specific gravity of the gas to within such limitsas to burn efficiently in the form of a clear, hot, blue flame.

For some reason which is not apparent to us, the loose dry strands ofbleached cotton 65a continue to absorb only such excess molecules fromthe gas throughout the operation of the apparatus, even though thespecific gravity of thegas entering compartment h may be graduallyreducing for some considerable time after the apparatus has beenstarted; i.e., after the gas cock has been opened. It follows that, whenthe capillarity or recovery rate of the wet strands of bleached cottonroving 65 has reached equilibrium with respect to the rate at whichliquid hydrocarbon is absorbed therefrom by the slowly moving air; atwhich time the specific gravity of the gas within compartment g iswithin prescribed limits of from 1.225 to 1.325 relative to air, the drystrands of roving no longer absorb any noticeable amount of hydrocarbonmolecules from the gas, so the gas remains at the prescribed specificgravity from the time it leaves compartment g until it is consumed atthe gas burner, even though the gas flows through compartment h in itscourse to the burner.

As with any type of gas producing apparatus, the size of the housing andthe volume, velocity, pressure and temperature of the air flowingthrough the apparatus, as well as any turbulence effected in the air byvarious obstructions, are all highly critical elements to be consideredin the manufacture of the present apparatus. Accordingly, the relativesize of the openings 55-61 in the partions 45-51 should be determined inthe manufacture of the apparatus so as to insure that the air flows fromthe inlet opening 122 (FIGURE 8) through the successive compartments athrough h of the diffusion chamber 34 at a constant predeterminedpressure; that is, when the apparatus is not being used, the pressure ofthe air in each of the compartments a-h must be the same and, whenone ormore burners are being used, the pressure of air flowing through eachcompartment a-h must still be the same, particularly when it isconsidered that the air is moved through the apparatus under very lowpressure. Thus, the size of the openings 55-61 relative to thecorresponding partitions and chambers must be determined by suitabletesting instruments during the course of manufacture of the apparatus.

It is apparent, therefore, that blower constitutes an extremelyimportant factor contributing to elficient operation of the apparatus,in view of the fact that it must deliver air at a critical pressuredepending entirely upon the demands of the apparatus and the demands ofthe burners. The pressure in the diffusion chamber need not only berelatively low to insure that molecules of hydrocarbon are absorbed bythe air and that the dry strands of bleached cotton roving will absorbany excess molecules of hydrocarbon to reduce the gas to therequiredspecific gravity, but to further insure that the rate of flow ofthe air through the apparatus will not chill the air, thus enabling theair to absorb and dilfuse the molecules of hydrocarbon from the primaryabsorbing means 65.

In actual practice, one embodiment of the improved apparatus had adiffusion chamber 34 which was approximately thirty-six inches long,eighteen inches wide and nine inches high from top wall 25 to the ridgesof false bottom 30. The hydrocarbon liquid was two inches deep abovesaid ridges and primary absorbing means 65, in the form of bleachedcotton rovings were suspended approximately seven inches above theliquid level L with approximately one-and-one-half inches of the latterrovings being immersed in the hydrocarbon liquid. The secondary bleachedcotton rovings 65a were suspended on the same level as rovings 65, butterminated approximately one inch above the liquid level L.

, Each compartment a-h was approximately nine inches square in plan,thus having a usable volume above liquid lever L of approximately 5 67cubic inchm. Thus, the ratio of the volume of the primary or dilfusioncompartments a-g to the volume of the secondary or conditioningcompartment was 7 to 1.

The ratio of the exposed portions of the wet rovings 65 to the dryrovings 65a by weight was approximately 40 to 1. There wereapproximately 300 yards of exposed .16 hank roving in compartments a-gand 7 /2 yards of .16 hank roving in compartment h. Single-strand .16hank bleached cotton rovings each having approximately /1 of a turn perinch twist therein were used (134.4 yards per pound or 53 grains peryard). The sizes of the openings 56-58, 55 and 59-61 were approximately4" x 4", 4!! X 3%)! 4!! X 31/2)! 4!! X 3%II, 4!! x 3!!7 4!! X 2%! and 4"x 2 /2, respectively. The openings 122, 123 were two inches in diameteror one-and-three-quarters inches square.

In one experiment, commercial hexane was used as the liquid hydrocarbon.Pure hexane (C H has a boiling point of 15 6.2 Fahrenheit, however,according to ATSM standards, commercial hexane has an initial boilingpoint of 151 F. and a dry point of 158 F. With an ambient temperaturefrom 37 F. to 78 F. and the pressure in tank 20 held at three inches ofwater, the specific gravity of the gas flowing from the enclosure 2% wasfrom 1.225 to 1.275 both when the apparatus was operated continuouslyfor several hours and when the apparatus was initially operatedfollowing a relatively long period (four hours or more) of dormancy. Thegas burns with an efficient, hot, blue flame when within the range ofspeciflc gravity mentioned above.

Other more highly volatile hydrocarbons such as pentane (C H have beenadmixed with hexane with similar results. This may be desirable when theapparatus is used in relatively cold climates. However, the heatingelement 33 may be used for heating the air and the liquid hydrocarbon inenclosure 20 to the desired extent, below the boiling point of thehydrocarbon, if the hydrocarbon is not sufiiciently volatile.

When the apparatus is used in warmer climates, heptane (C I-I and octane(C H may be used as the hydrocarbon liquid supply. Since heptane andoctane have relatively high boiling points; i.e., 209.l F. and 256.3 E,respectively, they are not entirely satisfactory in'themselves and maybe mixed with a more volatile hydrocarbon, such as hexane and pentane.It should be noted however, that the present apparatus is particularlyadapted for converting hydrocarbon liquids to efiicient gas, whichliquids have a minimum boiling point above maximum outside atmospherictemperature or approximately 120 F. and a maximum boiling point of 160F., and which gas must have a Weight or density relative to air(specific gravity) of no less than 1.225 and no more than 1.325 in orderto burn eificiently with a hot, blue flame.

In further actual practice, another embodiment of the apparatus had adiffusion chamber 34 and enclosure 20 similar to, and of the same sizeas, the previously described embodiment, but only two pairs oftransverse partitions were used, such as partitions 45, 47, 5t 51, sothat the diffusion chamber was divided into six equal sizedcompartments. Each of the compartments was approximately 9 x 12" in planand nine inches deep with two inches of commercial hexane hydrocarbonliquid in the bottoms thereof. The partitions were provided withstaggered openings, one in each partition, of progressively diminishingsizes varying from 4" x 4 to 2" x 4". The wet rovings and dry rovingswere of the same size and arranged in substantially the same manner asin the previous embodiment, and their proportions were substantially thesame as in the previous embodiment.

Although this arrangement provided each compartment with a usable volumeof 754 cubic inches and the ratio of the volume of the difiusioncompartments to the conditioning compartment was 5 to 1, the ratio ofthe exposed portions of the wet rovings to the dry rovings was stillheld at approximately 40 to 1 and the lengths of the rovings 65, 6511were also the same in both experiments, since the overall size of thediffusion chamber or enclosure was the same in both embodiments of theimproved apparatus.

The gas produced during initial and extended operation of the secondembodiment of the apparatus also had a specific gravity of from 1.225 to1.275.

Experiments have shown that the present apparatus results in theproduction of a gas which considerably exceeds the heating capacity ofthe particular type of liquid from which the gas is converted. Forexample, a liquid having a rated capacity of one hundred thousandB.t.u.s per gallon has been converted to a gas containing two hundredthousand B.t.u.s per gallon of liquid.

It is thus seen that we have provided an improved apparatus forproducing efiiciently combustible gas, within given limits of specificgravity, from liquid hydrocarbons in which low pressure air is directedthrough relatively wet, highly absorbent, suspended strands or otherhighly absorbent material and then through and past dry bleached cottonrovings and wherein the porosity and capillarity of such rovings aresuch as to absorb from the gas only those molecules of hydrocarbon whichmay have been picked up by the air as it moved past the wet strands andwhich exceed the molecules which must remain in suspension in the air inorder to result in a gas having a specific gravity within such limits asto burn with a hot, blue flame.

In the drawings and specification there have been set forth preferredembodiments of the invention and, although specific terms are employed,they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not forpurposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in theclaims.

We claim:

1. A gas producing apparatus for use with gas-cockoperated jet-typeburners comprising an enclosure for containing a supply of liquidhydrocarbon in the bottom portion thereof, said enclosure having a gasoutlet above the level of said supply and adapted to be connected to agas-cock-operated burner, highly absorbent capillary members suspendedabove and having their lower portions immersed in said liquidhydrocarbon, means maintaining air at a gauge pressure of .867 to 3ounces per square inch in said enclosure whereby the air flows veryslowly past and absorbs hydrocarbon molecules from said capillarymembers when the gas cock is opened, a plurality of bleached cottonrovings suspended between said capillary members and said outlet, saidrovings being positioned in the path of the air flowing from saidmembers to said outlet, said rovings being out of contact with saidsupply of liquid, and said rovings being approximately 4 th the mass ofsaid capillary members and having a capacity to remove molecules ofhydrocarbon from the air only when the gas formed at said capillarymembers by the air and hydrocarbon molecules is above a prede terminedrange of specific gravity.

2. A gas producing apparatus for use with gas-cockoperated jet-typeburners comprising an enclosure for containing a supply of liquidhydrocarbon on the bottom thereof, said enclosure having a gas outletadapted to be connected to a gas-cock-operated burner, a first pluralityof bleached cotton rovings suspended above and having their lowerportions immersed in said liquid hydrocarbon, means maintaining air at awater gauge pressure of 1% to 5 inches in said enclosure whereby the airflows very slowly past and absorbs hydrocarbon molecules from said firstrovings to form a combustible gas when the gas cock is opened, a secondplurality of bleached cotton rovings suspended between said firstrovings and said outlet, said second rovings being positioned in thepath of the air flowing from said first rovings to said outlet, saidsecond rovings being out of contact with said supply of liquid, and saidsecond rovings being approximately 4 th the mass of said first rovingsand having a capacity to remove molecules of hydrocarbon from the gasonly when the gas is above a predetermined range of specific gravity.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 in which said first and secondbleached cotton rovings are of approximately .16 hank and .75 twist perinch construction.

4. A gas producing apparatus for use with gas-cockoperated jet-typeburners comprising an enclosure for containing a supply of liquidhydrocarbon in the bottom portion thereof, said enclosure having a gasoutlet adapted to be connected to a gas-cock-operated burner, highlyfirst absorbent, bleached cotton rovings suspended above and havingtheir lower portions immersed in said liquid hydrocarbon, meansmaintaining air at a constant Water gauge pressure of 1 to 5 inches insaid enclosure whereby the air flows very slowly past and absorbshydnocarbon molecules from said first rovings when the gas cock isopened, said rovings being of such mass and capillarity as to normaillyretain an amount of liquid therein in equilibrium with the amount ofliquid absorbed by the air flowing thereby to form gas Within anefiicient given range of specific gravity, second highly absorbentbleached cotton rovings suspended between said first rovings and saidoutlet, said second rovings being positioned in the path of air flowingfrom said first rovings to said outlet, said second rovings being out ofcontact with said supply of liquid, and the mass of said second rovingsbeing approximately of the mass of said first rovings and thus having acapacity to absorb molecules of hydrocarbon from the air only when thegas formed at said first rovings is above said efiicient given range ofspecific gravity.

5. For use with a gas-cock-operated jet-type burner, a gas producingapparatus comprising an enclosure for containing a supply of liquidhydrocarbon on the bottom thereof, said enclosure having an outletadapted to be connected to said gas-cock-operated burner, highlyabsorbent bleached cotton rovings suspended above and having their lowerportions immersed in said supply of liquid, means introducing air intosaid enclosure and maintaining the air at a water gauge pressure of 1 /2to 5 inches in said enclosure whereby opening of the gas cook permitsair to flow very slowly past and absorb hydrocarbon molecules from saidrovings to form a gas, a plurality of partitions in said enclosuredefining a plurality of compartments through which the air must passwhen flowing past said capillary members, each partition being providedwith a relatively small opening through which said air passes, saidpartitions serving to retard flow of said air so as to induce uniformityof said air pressure throughout the compartments, capillary meansconsisting of loosely twisted, bleached cotton strands of a massapproximately 4 of the mass of said rovings for absorbing molecules ofhydrocarbon from said gas only when the gas is above a given specificgravity, and means supporting said capillary means in the path of thegas flowing from said rovings to said outlet and out of contact withsaid supply of liquid.

6. A structure according to claim 5 having means for 16 heating theliquid hydrocarbon to a predetermined temperature.

7. A structure according to claim 5 including means for heating the airintroduced into said inlet opening.

8. Apparatus for producing a gas from liquid hydrocarbon comprising anenclosure having a plurality of spaced partitions therein defining aseries of compartments therein, said partitions being provided withrelatively small openings therein establishing communication betweenadjacent compartments, said enclosure havingan air inlet opening at oneend of the series of compartments and an outlet opening at the other endof the series of compartments, means adapted for connecting said outletopening to a gas-cock-operated burner, means for introducing andmaintaining a supply of liquid hydrocarbon in a lower portion of saidenclosure, a plurality of bleached cotton rovings suspended in each ofsaid compartments, the lower ends of the rovings in the finalcompartment of said series terminating in spaced relation above thelevel of the liquid in the enclosure, the rovings in the compartmentsother than the final compartment having their lower portions, at leastin part, immersed in said liquid, the rovings in said final compartmenthaving a total mass in a ratio of approximately 1 to 40 relative to thetotal mass of the rovings in the other compartments, and an airimpelling means connected to said air inlet opening and creating aconstant air pressure of 1 to 5 inches water gauge throughout the seriesof compartments and through the air outlet opening, said rovings inthose compartments other than the final compartment being of suchcapillarity as to retain a greater amount of liquid absorbed from saidsupply while the gas cock is closed than they retain while the gas cockis open, opening of said gas cock causing air to flow from saidimpelling means through the enclosure whereby the air absorbs moleculesof hydrocarbon from the rovings in those compartments other than thefinal compartment, and said rovings in the final compartment being suchas to absorb from the air only such molecules of hydrocarbon necessaryto maintain the gas thus formed at a specific gravity from 1.225 to1.325.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS151,625 Ruthven June 2, 1874 256,741 Reynolds Apr. 18, 1882 366,664Hickel July 19, 1887 965,867 Bustard Aug. 2, 1910 1,538,652 Poth May 19,1925 2,290,893 Phillips July 28, 1942 2,435,798 Rice et al. Feb. 10,1948 FOREIGN PATENTS 490,245 Germany Mar. 12 1931 662,032 Germany July2, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No3,163, 509 December 29 1964 James L. Hamilton et al.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patentrequiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read ascorrected below.

Column 7, line 18, for Y'sucht" read such column 12, line 25, for"partions" read partitions line 70, for "lever" read level column 13,line 14, for "ATSM" read ASTN column 15, lines 8 and 9, for "highlyfirst" read first highly line 16, for "normailly" read normally Signedand sealed this 4th day of- May 1965,

(SEAL) Attest:

ERNEST w. SWIDER' EDWARD J. BRENNER A-ttesting Officer Commissioner ofPatents

1. A GAS PRODUCING APPARATUS FOR USE WITH GAS-COCKOPERATED JET-TYPEBURNERS COMPRISING AN ENCLOSURE FOR CONTAINING A SUPPLY OF LIQUIDHYDROCARBON IN THE BOTTOM PORTION THEREOF, SAID ENCLOSURE HAVING A GASOUTLET ABOVE THE LEVEL OF SAID SUPPLY AND ADAPTED TO BE CONNECTED TO AGAS-COCK-OPERATED BURNER, HIGHLY ABSORBENT CAPILLARY MEMBERS SUSPENDEDABOVE AND HAVING THEIR LOWER PORTIONS IMMERSED IN SAID LIQUIDHYDROCARBON, MEANS MAINTAINING AIR AT A GAUGE PRESSURE OF .867 TO 3OUNCES PER SQUARE INCH IN SAID ENCLOSURE WHEREBY THE AIR FLOWS VERYSLOWLY PAST AND ABSORBS HYDROCARBON MOLECUES FROM SAID CAPILLARY MEMBERSWHEN THE GAS COCK IS OPENED, A PLURALITY OF BLEACHED COTTON ROVINGSSUSPENDED BETWEEN SAID CAPILLARY MEBMERS AND SAID OUTLET, SAID ROVINGSBEING POSITIONED IN THE PATH OF THE AIR FLOWING FROM SAID MEMBERS TOSAID OUTLET, SAID ROVINGS BEING OUT OF CONTACT WITH SAID SUPPLY OFLIQUID, AND SAID ROVINGS BEING APPROXIMATELY 1/10TH THE MASS OF SAIDCAPILLARY MEMBERS AND HAVING A CAPACITY TO REMOVE MOLECULES OFHYDROCARBON FROM THE AIR ONLY WHEN THE GAS FORMED AT SAID CAPILLARYMEMBERS BY THE AIR AND HYDROCARBON MOLECULES IS ABOVE A PREDTERMINEDRANGE OF SPECIFIC GRAVITY.